POP! Vinyl / POP! Rides - "Batmobile"

Recently, while out shopping at Walmart I decided to buy a 'POP! Vinyl' figure for review. I liked reviewing the Vocaloid figures, and wanted to start collecting some of them on my own. One thing you have to understand about Walmart, and my trip there for the 'POP! Vinyls' though is that there's slim pickings in regards to 'POP! Vinyl' figures within the store. Unfortunately my options were severely limited, because of this. Most of the figures on the store shelves were of 'My Little Ponies', 'The Walking Dead', 'Game of Thrones', and 'How To Train Your Dragon 2'. Stuff that nobody wanted to buy, and figures that have been on the shelves for months now. The only figure that caught my attention amongst the lot was the classic Batmobile plus classic Batman combo. I had on my mind many other 'Pop! Vinyls' I'd rather have had, but the Batmobile package was an alright choice. So I bought it.

For those of you who are old enough to remember you will likely know of the classic Batman TV series that aired back in the late 60's, and was re-aired in the 70's, possibly even the 80's. I was lucky enough as a kid to catch cable viewings of the shows in the late 70's, and watched the rerun episodes every chance that I could get. Of course 'Adam West' was the original Batman in the the televised series, and he was accompanied by his loyal sidekick Robin (Burt Ward). The villains which were also featured within the three season series included 'The Joker', 'The Penguin', 'Catwoman', 'Mr. Freeze', and 'The Mad Hatter'. Along with the many superhero, and super villain conflicts came the show's more childish, and innocent aspects. Things like comic book captions, and fake fights were all a part of the televised experience. It was never really over-the-top with violence, and as such was made mostly for kids. Sure there was plenty of punching, kicking, and fighting, but most of the action was accented, or rather censored by screen filling action words such as "POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!", or the likes. Compared to modern-day Batman movies the 60's show (1966 - 1968) was in a league of it's own. Gotham, and it's inhabitants were not as dark, and menacing as in today's Batman lore.

Getting back to the figure ...

The "Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile' comes complete with a hard plastic car, and an Adam West inspired Batman 'Pop! Vinyl' figure. The set is numbered as "01" of the 'POP! Rides" series, and will set you back about $25 should you want to add it to your collection. As far as the Batmobile goes you will find that the car is made completely of a hard black plastic with non-rotating wheels, and that it is molded and painted up like the Batmobile of the classic Batman television series. It has bordering red trim accents, a red bat symbol upon the side doors, yellow lights at either end, and three raised silver exhaust pipes at the back of the vehicle. The base car, like in the series is a 'Lincoln Futura' with applied modifications. As with the series the Batmobile toy car has the clear twin bubble back and front windshields, the two back fins as well as the other signature features I just mentioned. I had expected the wheels on the car to turn, but they were firmly locked in place. I suppose it made for a better shelf worthy collectible that way. It should also be noted that there's enough room in the car's cab to stand your classic Batman figure. There's also a raised peg that fits in the hollow hole that's at the bottom of one of the classic Batman's boots. You can switch out "POP! Vinyls' as you see fit, but note that not all 'POP! Vinyl' figures have that peg hole on the bottom of their feet/shoes, and might pose a slight problem with standing as a result of this tiny feature.

When it comes to the Adam West inspired Batman figure Funko designers have made it rather impressive in build with a solid heavyweight body made of hard plastic, and a hollow vinyl head to keep the figure more balanced. The paint job is a full-on tribute to Adam West's old costume with blues, yellows, and greys for accent colors. Most of the mask is done up in a slate blue color with the face of it featuring the darker blue 1960's face. There's also solid white eyes, and brighter blue accents on the face of the mask. The cape, gloves, and boots are each painted or made with a darker, more navy blue color that also coincides with the 1960's costume designed. The body of the classic Batman costume is the same slate blue as the mask. The small Batman insignia that was painted onto the body was done up with a yellow background, and a tiny black bat symbol painted on top of the yellow oval. The underwear-like portion of the classic Batman's costume is also the darker, more navy blue that I previously mentioned, and the leggings that go along with it are the same slate blue as the body of the costume, and the mask. The belt, which is designed according to the original costume accessory design is painted with the classic yellow color that is fitting of a true classic Batman tribute. All in all the classic TV series Batman 'POP! Vinyl' is definitely true tribute material at it's finest.

The classic Batman figure is the usual size associated with the 'POP! Vinyl' toy line. The cape, which I forgot to go about in better detail is a hard plastic that is thick, and accented with waves and such like a true-to-life cape would be. Compared to the Vocaloid 'POP! Vinyl' figures the classic Batman figure as a whole definitely has a heavier weight about it, especially since the body was made solid. As far as the classic Batmobile goes, if you were to lay the classic Batman figure down beside it the car wouldn't be much longer than the figure is tall. With that being said you will definitely know a difference in size when it comes to the product packaging. One thing I've come to like about the "POP! Vinyl" offerings is that each toy is packaged in a tri-fold molded plastic casing that is easy to unhinge, and remove from the cardboard box. This makes for easy toy removal, and toy replacement should you desire to pack the toy back up after having it on display.

When it comes to pricing I honestly thought $25 was a little steep for such a figure, and vehicle combo at first, but have since changed my mind. Even though you could get two 'POP! Vinyl' figures for less than the cost of the figure, and vehicle combo pack the vehicle can be used with multiple figures of the same series, or other series making it's value worth the five additional dollars. Just imagine "popping" one of your very own "DIY" 'POP! Vinyl' projects that is modeled after you into the driver seat of this classic Batmobile! Badass, am I right? Considering this I'm gonna say that the 'POP! Rides' "Batmobile" is definitely worth the asking price, especially if you can buy one at your local Walmart. I've seen the same set on Amazon go for $30, which makes my $25 buy a steal in comparison. One thing you have to keep in mind though is that you may be able to find a cheaper price on Amazon, or somewhere else if you shop smart. Sometimes buying from a store negates the shipping costs though, and makes the deal more worthwhile.